


Working Girl

by nebroadwe



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Automail, Bechdel Test Pass, Drabble Collection, Engineers, Gen, Gratuitous quotations from Emerson, Period-Typical Sexism, Women Being Awesome, Women in Business
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-20
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-15 14:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebroadwe/pseuds/nebroadwe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winry Rockbell pounds the pavement, and other things, in search of a job and in pursuit of perfection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Overqualified

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written for Evil_Little_Dog, with best wishes for the success of a job interview.

        Job-hunting during a recession makes most people desperate; Winry Rockbell just gets cranky.  So it's inevitable that when yet another sweaty-palmed male chauvinist leers at her and suggests that he might be able find her an opening, if she proves ... _qualified_ ... she pulls a wrench on him.

        "How about this?" she asks sweetly.  "You give me the job because I'm a qualified _engineer_ , and I won't crush your ugly supraorbital foramen."

        Fortunately Granny wires the bail money without question, so Ed and Al need never hear about Mr. Sweaty Palms.  One attempt at human transmutation is enough for a lifetime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The _supraorbital foramen_ is the technical name for the eyebrow ridge. (I'm not a doctor, but I hang out with them a lot.)


	2. Saturday Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This, too, was written for Evil_Little_Dog, who is too noble a soul to consider replacing someone's bath salts with something else. Probably.

  
_We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken.  
_ _Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world,  
_ _the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether._  


— Ralph Waldo Emerson, "On Friendship"

* * *

        The boardinghouse is stuffy in summer, chilly in winter, and smells of cabbage in all seasons, but since Winry only sleeps and stores her clothes there, these defects hardly signify.  She reserves her ire for the cramped washroom, complaining relentlessly to the Elric brothers about its lack of a tub.  Ed replies that baths are for babies and even Al wonders whether showering isn't more efficient.  She always knew they were idiots.

        Trudging home from work Saturday night, she barks her shins on the big tin basin and box of bath foam sitting outside her door and revises her opinion.


	3. Always Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was, and remains, for my brother in the business world.

        Only a week on the job, she's summoned to answer a complaint.  Winry doesn't recognize herself in the condescending shrew of the client's report — all she remembers is trying to persuade him not to trick his automail out with what Granny calls _phallic enhancements_.  "They'd increase the load on the mechanism without a corresponding gain in function," she argues.  "He doesn't need them."

        "You're not here to decide what he needs," her supervisor replies.  "Just give him what he wants."

        "That's irresponsible!"

        "That's customer service."  He scribbles a note on the complaint.  "Consider this your first warning."

        Winry gapes, speechless.


	4. Clandestine Engagement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was, and is, for Cornerofmadness, with warmest wishes.

        Winry's contract forbids her to moonlight.  The company, claiming the rights to whatever she invents while in its employ, on or off the clock, cannot disclaim liability for any maintenance or installation she does in her free time, either.  So Winry keeps her best inspirations in her head and disappoints most clients by refusing to tinker outside the office.  _Sorry; I need this job ..._

        Ed's the exception, of course, taking her oh-so-casual suggestions to Riesenbuhl for Granny to implement and trysting with her in discreet hotels for adjustments.  _It's like we're having an affair_ , she teases, grinning as he blushes.


	5. Immediate Jewel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was, and is, for Katie (obviously).

  
_The customer is the immediate jewel of our souls._   
_ Him we flatter, him we feast, compliment, vote for, and will not contradict.  
_ — Ralph Waldo Emerson  


* * *

        The receptionist catches Winry returning from lunch.  "Mrs. Hart called," she sing-songs, waving a folded note and shrugging maliciously as Winry groans.

        Everyone in the firm has worked on Mrs. Hart's leg.  She attaches herself like a leech to new hires and sucks the life from them with passive-aggressive complaints:  _It's such a nuisance, but I don't suppose you_ can _do anything about the ankle sticking ...  Don't worry about the noise the knee makes; it only throws my balance off a trifle ..._

        Winry pins the latest message to her corkboard with a scraper, three punches and a knife.


	6. Playing Percentages

        Paninya comes to visit, testing the waters: _If you can make it in Central, maybe I can, too._   She murmurs polite _ah_ s and _hmm_ s throughout her tour of the clinic, but over tea afterward she remarks, "Kinda soulless, isn't it?"

        "You could say that," sighs Winry.

        Paninya butters her toast.  "So, when are you opening your own shop?"

        "As soon as I have the money."

        "Well, hurry up!" Paninya urges, pointing the greasy knife at Winry.  "When I move here, I want my 'old friends' discount."

        "Ha! Only if I get one, too," Winry counters.

        They shake on it, laughing.


	7. Wager of Friendship, Part 1

_... the best of life is conversation, and the greatest success is confidence,  
or perfect understanding between sincere people. _

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

* * *

        When Ed overtakes her in the street, demanding to know why she's hitting up that bastard Mustang for money, Winry's just glad he didn't catch her at the clinic.  "Where'd you hear that?" she demands in return.  "And keep it down!"

        Somehow Ed finds his indoor voice.  "Havoc said Mustang said you're starting your own shop, and — "  He shuts his mouth on something olive-bitter, to judge by his scowl.

        "'And?'"

        Ed snarls, then bursts out, "And that you're too ... _cute_ to fail!"

        Ah, the usual masculine vote of confidence.  Winry's sigh emerges as a snicker; flushing, Ed stomps away.


	8. Wager of Friendship, Part 2

        The Elrics ambush Winry in her usual booth at the diner.  She taps a pencil against her business plan as Al maneuvers the conversation around to her investors.  "I didn't ask Mr. Mustang for money. I asked Ms. Riza."  (Though she supposes, belatedly, that it amounts to the same thing now they're married.)  "And I don't see why it's any of your business," she adds, glaring at a pinch-lipped Ed.

        "Um," Al begins, but his brother elbows him silent and bellows, "Idiot! _Why didn't you ask us?"_

        The hovering waitress goggles.  Winry turns her scarlet face to the wall.


	9. Wager of Friendship, Part 3

        She pulls a brush through her damp locks, wincing as it meets another tangle.  A hundred strokes each night, per her mother's long-ago advice, doesn't prevent knots — maybe Mrs. Gracia knows a better remedy ...

        _Why didn't you ask us?_

        Winry drops the useless hairbrush, grimacing.  She couldn't say _You're not rich_ with Mrs. Gracia backing her gamble, as well as Granny and Ms. Riza.  She might've settled for _It's just us girls_ :  apart from the bank, she won't owe a man a cen.  But ...

        _None of your business!_

        It's too painful to admit she never thought to ask them.


End file.
